The beast soon got itself ready for the challenge ahead. It snorted, scratched the earth with its hooves, and charged towards the incoming shield. As if it had forgotten that it was a boar, pulling the move bulls were known for.
The water shield flew towards it with incredible speed. The beast increased its speed to meet it head-on. They finally clashed with each other as the beast used its tusk to make contact with the surface of the shield.
The beast's tusks were met with a large force of impact. The shield didn't let the tusks sink in even when it was made of water. It was as if the water had gained the properties of ice without turning into one.
It was now the beast's turn to be thrown into the air. The shield followed the beast as if waiting for the beast to drop from the air and smash it again. Just like what it was planning to do with Ramy.
Jake managed to retrieve the sound knight safely as the beast struggled with his water shield. Jake was sweating a bit when he pulled Ramy towards him hard and made his crash behind him, near Ana's feet. All while maintaining the defensive shield spell.
"Ramy, if you pull this stunt again, then I swear to all the money I hold dear that I'd let you get skewered by the beast's white tusk. Now get up and get patched up by Ana.
Ana, please treat this buffoon as fast as you can. I'll not be able to hold the beast for much longer before running out of mana."
Jake said without looking back.
Ramy lay face down and butts up after crashing on the ground. He looked at Ana while maintaining that position and gave a pathetic smile as if to tell her everything was fine with him. The healer could tell that it was not.
"Ramy, we could have come up with a smart plan to tackle the beast, you know. Look at the state you are in right now."
As Ana spread her mana sense, she began to analyze Ramy's condition. She also helped him straighten his awkward posture while doing it.
She touched the spot where the beast's tusks had made contact with Ramy's torso after finding out there was something wrong with it using her mana sense. The latter winced in pain as soon as the healer placed her palm gently over it.
"Aoweee! Broken ribs and injury to the liver. This is going to take a while, Jakey.
Ramy calm your nerves and breathe easy."
Since the tank protected her, Ana didn't need to worry about her safety or mobility. She cast a passive healing spell to start fixing Ramy up.
Meanwhile, the beast was headbutting the water shield again for the fourth time. The shield had won all three rounds. But that didn't discourage the boar from trying its luck again. It was as if the beast was finding some sort of joy in getting itself injured with each collision.
The beast's eyes seemed to have shined with intelligence as it approached the water shield again. But this time, instead of using its tusks, the F-Rank boar decided to try something else.
It raised its front legs, in the same manner, it had when launching the Suidae Stomp spell. But instead of stomping on the ground, the beast decided to change the target to the shield's surface.
The beast's front hooves landed right on the shield's front side. This time the shield's surface produced countless ripples while the shield itself started shaking uncontrollably.
"Um… guys… this exotic pork is up to something. You might wanna hurry up."
Jake warned his teammates behind him in a grim voice. He was trying to maintain the execution of his defence spell for as long as he could. But it looked like the spell was going to get broken by the sheer tenacity of the beast.
Ana expedited her healing process by inefficiently increasing her mana expenditure. It was a desperate move, but it had to be made. Ramy cursed himself for acting impatiently at the beginning and tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword.
This time he was planning to coordinate with Jake and slay the wild pork. He was even thinking of making skewered patties out of the beast meat just to have his revenge.
The boar managed to stop the shield from advancing on him. But it seemed that the nose-snorter wasn't happy with the tie.
So the exotic pork snorted its nose again and echoed its beastly cry before pulling off the same move again on the shield. This time with even more ferocity than before. That managed to work in its favour as the shield was broken before the water got dispersed in the surrounding area.
Some of the water droplets that were dispersed in the air reflected the sunlight after it fell on them and created rainbow-like light play around the beast. A simple boar managed to look majestic because of the feat it had achieved.
But Jake felt that the light reflection wasn't the only thing that was making the beast look majestic. There were uncalled-for mana fluctuations in the surrounding area that raised alarm in his mind.
"Damn it. This battle ended up being a fortuitous encounter for this exotic pork. Ramy hurry the fu*ck up. The damn beast is trying to achieve a breakthrough into the E-Rank."
Ramy stood up from his seated position after he heard Jake's warning. He knew when to take things lightly. And he also knew when to get serious. His presence of mind told him he had to act fast or the beast was about to become a serious nuisance for all of them.
"Jakey, suppowt me with youw Hydwo Whips. Keep the beast tied at the place fow a while. I'm going ahead."
Ramy informed Jake this time and ran past him towards the evolving beast. He had to kill the menace in front of him quickly.
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AN: If anyone has hunted a wild boar before, they would know that these wild porks are as tenacious as I have made them out to be in the chapter. They just don't fu*cking die no matter how many times you shoot at them. I have witnessed the hunt once and the entire scene is still fresh in my memory.
Thanks, GojoVir, Waakaranai, TrafalgarLaws, and Naruto_Anime for your gifts.
Special thanks to Edward_Wood_jr for sending the inspiration capsule and massage chair. Cheers! ;)